Stop and Smell the Roses

Every once in a while something happens and I realise all over again that there truly can be silver linings to black clouds and blessings can be found within curses.  A few days ago, such an event happened.
I know that lots of you reading this blog don't really know that much about vancouver so I'll give you a bit of background first. What most people not from Vancouver call Vancouver is actually a collection of cities in a geographic area generally called the lower mainland by locals. Vancouver itself has a population of about 600,000 while the entire lower mainland has approximately 2.5 million people.
Vancouver the city is bordered by water on three sides; an arm of the Fraser River to the south, Georgia Strait to the west, and Burrard Inlet to the north.  On the north side of Burrard Inlet are the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver and are often grouped together and called the North Shore.
The North Shore is where the local ski mountains Seymour, Cypress, and Grouse are located. And for the record to be thorough, Whistler and Blackcomb are about an hour and a half north of Vancouver along the Sea to Sky Highway, and are not part of the local mountains. At least to me.

Okay, by now I'm sure you are wondering why I have been giving you a geography lesson when I started off talking about silver lining and black clouds and all that touchy feely type stuff.
On Sunday, Tim Jones, the leader of the North Shore Search and Rescue team suddenly died.  I think anyone who watched the news in the lower mainland knew who he was because that group was unfortunately very busy. Whether it was due to stupid people or unlucky people I can't say, but the group made the news pretty frequently for all of their hard work and Mr. Jones was always front centre making sure the job got done.  To say that he was dedicated to helping people might be an understatement. And that is just what I figured out from watching the news, I never had the opportunity to meet the man.

There have been a few different articles in the newspaper about Mr. Jones in the last couple days, mostly talking about what an amazing person he was and how he personally was involved in at least 1600 search and rescue missions. And another thing that is always mentioned is how, for all that he loved what he did, he was looking forward to the day he retired so he could spend more time with his family and pay back their generosity of sharing him so selflessly with the community.
And this situation brings to mind another similar situation with a fantastic woman I used to work with at St. Paul's.  She worked 2 jobs so that when she retired she could travel and do all the things she couldn't do while working. Then just a couple years before she retired she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and she unfortunately only made it a couple more years.

Alright, by now you are probably beginning to think that I am going off my rocker, first geography then depressing stuff, but really, I have a purpose. I promise!

As I am sure everyone who either reads my blog or talks to me knows, the primary side effects I am now dealing with are fatigue, insomnia, and hot flashes. The fatigue in particular is what is preventing me from being able to work or even walk very fast or far these days. I really appreciate the dry weather so I can take the dog out to the seawall and just sit on a bench and watch the rest of the world go by. And if it was summer I would be stopping to smell the roses a little more often than I ever have in the past simply because I just need to take a break and rest.

And because I am not working I am also able to spend more time with my friends and family than I have ever been able to do. And I am finally a volunteer. Right around the time that I was leaving St. Paul's I had been looking into becoming a tutor for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters but I kept on putting it off because I was just starting a new job and I had no idea what the hours would really be like. And then, of course, I got cancer and that took over everything.  Now that I am in a stable treatment I volunteer between 4 and 6 hours a week for the Canadian Cancer Society and it gives me a sense of purpose.
It is unfortunate that it took cancer for these things to happen for me, but that really seems to be how we all live these days. Everyone so busy that we don't get to appreciate the little stuff.

So, as you have guessed, I have finally gotten to the purpose of this post.........no matter how busy you are, even if it is with something you truly enjoy, don't forget to smell the flowers or talk to a friend or just do a little people watching, because no one knows when you might not have the chance again.

So with those wise words, here is my next music selection, sorry, it is c & w, but it is really appropriate for the moment and I don't think I have shared it before. (Yay! I have finally figured out hyperlinks on my tablet!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSGLZd9Vg4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Oh, and I have one other great suggestion for people that I saw on a sandwich board outside a coffee shop the other day..........be the reason somebody laughs today.

The Results Are In

I had my 9 week appointment with my oncologist on Wednesday so I finally got the official results of my bone scan.
The official impression is "continuing improvement of abnormalities in the sternum, thoracic spine, and pelvis."

Yay!!!!

Hard to believe that it could actually get any better than it already was, but what do I know?

Now onto a totally different matter.  As some of you may already know, I am thinking about not participating in the Run for the Cure this year.  If I am involved in the run I would like to be a part of the organising.  We'll see how it goes. With my fatigue, being on the organising committee may not be possible but I am sure there is something behind the scenes I should be able to do.

Coincidently, just as I am thinking of not being a part of the run, my wonderful friend Grace van der Gugten has signed up as a member of Team UBC for the Ride to Conquer Cancer.  This is a fundraising bike trip that takes place every year and participates ride from Vancouver to Seattle (!!!!).  The money raised goes to the BC Cancer Foundation which is the fundraising arm of the BC Cancer Society where I and all other cancer patients in BC are treated.  The BCCA is a huge participant in all sorts of cancer research and it truly is a great institution to support.

I am throwing all of my fundraising abilities behind Grace this year. I hope that all of you who are able will also show your support of both Grace and of cancer research by donating to her!

To make donating easy, here is a Link to Grace's personal page!

Thank you all for your support:-)

2014 Already???

I am still a little stunned that 2013 is over and it is 2014. Thanks to Suz and Wayne for a great New Year's Eve! It is always fun when the St. Paul's gang gets together:-)

While Ian and I were en route to the New Year's gathering I was thinking of where I was for December 31, 2012. My last chemo treatment had been on Dec. 28th so I remember I was layering up Advil and Tylenol to limit the joint pain as we went to Nick and Sarah's. Sarah was still pregnant and I couldn't handle any alcohol so we were celebrating together with our sparkling apple cider. I wasn't an aunt yet. I didn't have hair, eye brows, eye lashes, or nose nair. I had not decided at that point if I would have surgery and radiation was still a future idea.
Now it's been over a year since my last chemo,  the baby is 6 months old, my nephew is 11 months old, I have CURLY hair, and my brows, lashes, and nose have all recovered. I've had surgery and found out it's not as bad as some people say and for a little while the radiation unit of the BC Cancer Agency was my home away from home for a while. I've also made it through another PET scan, 4 bone scans, and 3 CT scans.

I guess you could say there were a lot of changes in 2013. Not as many as in 2012, but really not much can beat a cancer diagnosis for a life changing event.

After much consideration I have decided to only make one New Year's: I resolve to only make one New Year's resolution. Hope I don't fail!

And I want to send out a hello to a friend of mine who had the unfortunate luck to become a member of the breast cancer family just before Christmas. All I can say is that it sucks you are now a member but it a pretty amazing family all the same. You will never lack for support, advice, understanding, and most of all fun.  Cancer does suck so sometimes you have to look a little harder but I can guarantee there is still fun to be had.

One thing that I always found amusing was looking for music links while battling the insomnia I had during my taxol treatments and I will try an continue that even if I'm no longer posting at 3 a.m. The song I found for today was part of my radiation playlist.  Many other patients I was in touch with suggested having a fight playlist particularly for radiation as the daily slog to treatment gets a little hard on the spirit some days.
Some patients actually had their playlist played while in the treatment room.  I never got that hardcore but I only had 16 treatments so it was not as overwhelming for me.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V96r2046qjE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I hope it works. I was having some blogger/YouTube crankiness.